How to Take Creatine for (Possible) Mental Health Benefits
Creatine is best known as a supplement for those who regularly hit the gym: take one scoop of creatine powder every day, and you might feel like you can train a little harder. But creatine is also being studied for its mental health benefits. Is it worth taking for that alone? Perhaps.
What is creatine?
Creatine is a natural chemical that our bodies use to produce energy in our cells. If you remember studying ATP as an energy source (and how mitochondria, the “powerhouses of the cell,” convert food into ATP), you already know a little about this. When ATP is used up, creatine phosphate can replenish ATP stores (by replacing the spent phosphate), providing a rapid influx of additional energy.
This is why creatine is so beneficial in the gym: if you just did nine bench presses and want to do a tenth, but your muscles are exhausted, a small amount of extra creatine in your muscle cells can give you enough strength to complete the last set. Over time, you’ll perform more work, and therefore, someone with more creatine in their muscles will likely become slightly stronger than someone with less.
Our bodies produce some creatine, but we also get it from food (especially meat). Creatine supplements, available in powder or tablet form, can replenish our internal creatine stores. This is why it’s a popular supplement among people who do a lot of weight training.
What are the known benefits of creatine for the brain?
Creatine isn’t just used by muscle cells—virtually every cell in our body requires energy, and creatine is part of the system that provides it. Therefore, it’s worth asking whether creatine supplementation can help improve other aspects of our health.
Here’s where the evidence becomes much less clear. To give you an idea of the state of the science, I examined the Examine.com database of studies related to creatine supplementation. It found “A”-level evidence for creatine’s benefits for strength and power (the ability to use force in quick bursts). Creatine received a “B” grade for increasing muscle size and for some memory tests. Many other outcomes studied were disappointing, with numerous “C” and “D” grades as the table scrolled down. These low scores don’t mean creatine is useless; it simply doesn’t have a clear, well-studied, and reliably established benefit. Scientists are still working on these issues.
Regarding cognitive benefits, the data is conflicting, but many researchers believe it is promising. Many influencers, biohackers, and health enthusiasts are optimistic, taking creatine as a supplement themselves (and often recommending or selling it) in the hope that the benefits will be real.
A 2024 review of 16 studies found that creatine appears to improve memory, attention, and information processing speed. However, the strength of the evidence was low: the authors wrote that the evidence for memory benefits was only “moderate,” and for other benefits, the evidence was “low certainty.” Some of the measures studied, including overall cognitive performance, did not appear to be improved by creatine at all.
A 2025 review noted the disappointing results so far, but noted that we know that creatine supplements do increase creatine levels in the brain. In other words, it has some effect , but we don’t yet fully understand how these benefits manifest, if they exist at all.
Both reviews noted that creatine’s effects on brain function may depend on who takes it. People with lower levels of creatine in their bodies to begin with—for example, vegetarians, who get little creatine from their diet—may benefit from supplementation, even though omnivores do not. Older adults may benefit more than younger, healthier individuals, and it’s possible that the benefits of creatine are most pronounced in people experiencing stress.
Lack of sleep can be one type of stress that creatine can help manage. A 2024 study found that a single megadose of creatine improved cognitive function in people suffering from sleep deprivation. However, this dose was enormous: the equivalent of 24 grams for a 150-pound person (the typical creatine dose is 5 grams per day). I’m not saying you should take creatine if you feel sluggish after a late night, but I’ll definitely consider it the next time this happens to me.
What are the risks associated with taking creatine?
Creatine is one of the most studied consumer supplements, and its safety profile is quite good. This is why so many people take it: even if you’re unsure of its effectiveness, there’s no significant harm associated with it. Creatine isn’t associated with any serious health problems at normal doses, and it’s quite affordable. For example, this Nutricost bottle costs just 20 cents per serving per day (if you take five grams daily).
The main risk of taking creatine is that it can cause stomach upset, especially at high doses. This can be a concern if you plan to try a 24-gram dose or one of the other dosing regimens used in cognitive studies. People taking creatine to improve cognitive function often aim for 10 grams per day. You can split this dose into five grams in the morning and five in the evening if taking 10 grams at once isn’t appropriate for you.
There’s another risk associated with creatine that’s often discussed online, but lacks any convincing evidence. It’s theorized that creatine may accelerate hair loss in people (usually men) already prone to male-pattern baldness. This idea arose from studying the biochemical pathways involved in creatine metabolism and testosterone-related hormonal changes, and discovering a point of intersection between the two.
Researchers highlighted this as a promising topic — perhaps creatine could accelerate hair loss—but they spread the claim online that “creatine causes hair loss” as if it were common knowledge. In fact, no human studies have confirmed this connection, and a study designed to establish it found the opposite. The conclusion states: “This study is the first to directly assess hair follicle health after creatine supplementation, strongly refuting the claim that creatine promotes hair loss.”
How much creatine should I take and what type?
If you’re interested in taking creatine for mental health benefits, the rules are the same as for those taking it for muscle gain—except you may need a higher dose.
As mentioned, we don’t know the exact number of grams needed to improve brain function (since we’re not entirely sure whether creatine has a positive effect on the average person’s brain). The most common dose is 10 grams per day. For improved muscle performance, 5 grams is generally recommended. To improve performance in the gym, creatine should be taken regularly every day (don’t skip a dose on rest days), regardless of the time of day. The same rules apply for improving brain function.
Sometimes, during the first week or so, people take a “loading” dose, increasing the dosage (often four times the normal dose) to build up creatine stores in the body more quickly. This isn’t necessary: taking the normal dose for several weeks has the same effect on the body as taking a loading dose for one week. I’d say most people these days probably skip the loading phase due to the risk of stomach upset from taking large doses, and also because we know the loading phase isn’t necessary.
Finally, people often ask which creatine is best to buy. And the answer is simple: creatine monohydrate is the most studied and known for its effectiveness. Fortunately, it’s also the cheapest and easiest to find. I wouldn’t worry about the brand; it’s all the same substance. Personally, I prefer taking creatine capsules, as it’s more convenient than mixing the powder into a drink, but the powder is cheaper and just as effective.